The House

Chapter 2 Friendly Talk

"So," says Valerye. "Is it me, or that bold teacher of yours doesn't like you at all?"

This morning, after Valerye and I saw each other, the world seemed to stop for a second. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and apparently neither did her but, before I could even think what to say, I realized that my body made its own way towards her and it was trapped in a mutual hug.

It was then when Mr. Patterson gave us a couple of minutes to talk outside and, when it was finally the time to enter, we said it was necessary to catch up with our lives without someone hurrying us up.

That could basically explain why I am at a coffee shop near our University, sitting across from her, while talking about our lives.

"Yeah," I say. "And he's not the only one..."

"How so?" says Valerye right before taking a sip of her drink.

"Well, they all had to work their hearts off in applications, interviews and tests while the only thing I had to do was to survive five hellish months..."

"Oh, got your point, same thing happened to me... Well, almost."

"What do you mean?"

"It isn't such a big deal, but everyone at school looked at me as if the same situation was going to happen again just because I was there, you know?"

"Yup, know the feeling..."

Valerye smiled and took a piece of the strawberry cheesecake she also ordered.

"Hmmm! So good!" she grabbed a piece of cake with her fork and pointed it at me. "You sure you don't want anything? It's on me!"

"I'm good, thanks though." I raised my right hand to decline the piece of the cake and lowered it when Valerye put it away.

"As you please then..." Valerye stuffs the piece of cake in her mouth and continues to eat the rest of it.

Then, an awkward silence filled the entire place.

"So... How's... everybody?" I finally say.

"Oh, well..."she says. "That's..."

"What?"

"I haven't talked to any of them... Just Maddy..." she stops eating.

"Why?"

"It's kind of weird, you know? But I at least know that everybody made their way out thanks to the news..." she looks depressed.

"I see, that's good to know..."

"Sorry I can't tell you much."

"You don't know what happened to them I guess..."

"No."

"Well, it's okay," I say, also depressed. "At least they're not there..."

"Yeah."

Another awkward silence.

'So," I say. "What happened to you?"

"Oh, right," she says while taking a piece of cake and swallows it. "I don't know exactly what happened, but I went unconscious and woke up in Elementary School! I was really confused and started to call out everyone's names, but no one answered..."

"And then?"

"And then, the most unbelievable thing happened! My phone started to ring!" Valerye had a wide smile on her face, as if she was hearing her phone ringing all over again. "When I took my phone out of my pocket, I saw all the messages and missed calls my parents AND EVEN MY BROTHER made! I was sooo glad I began to cry!"